"Shotgun," "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)," and "(I'm A) Road Runner" alone would have guaranteed Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr., a.k.a. Oscar G. Mixon, a.k.a. Junior Walker, a spot in the Motown Records firmament. But between 1962 and 1978, the saxophonist-singer charted over 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and recorded more than a dozen albums with his group The All-Stars and a further three as a solo artist. Yet, curiously, none of Walker's 1970s albums for Motown's Soul imprint had ever
UPDATED: Edsel Collects Kiki Dee's "The Rocket Years" on New Box Set
When Kiki Dee was signed in 1973 to Elton John's Rocket Records label, the 26-year old was already a veteran of the music business as an in-demand background singer and a solo artist for Fontana and Motown. The former Pauline Matthews of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England had proven herself a versatile vocalist at both of those labels, but at Rocket she would finally take flight as a top-tier blue-eyed soul singer. The Edsel label has long championed Kiki's work on various reissues; now, they've
It's A Good Thing: Cherry Red Collects The Complete Plastic Penny with Future Elton John Drummer Nigel Olsson
Nowadays, drummer extraordinaire Nigel Olsson can be found behind the kit for Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, supporting the same superstar artist with whom he's been associated for nearly fifty years. Before his association with Elton, however, Nigel was plying his trade as one-fifth of Plastic Penny, a group which briefly straddled the worlds of pop, R&B, and underground psychedelia. The band also boasted future members of UFO, Cochise, and The Troggs. Cherry Red's
In Memoriam: Scott Walker (1943-2019) - Back Tracks: Part II (1975-2018)
"Imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen," The Guardian once wrote of the amazing journey of Scott Walker. The pop idol turned crooner turned shocking avant-garde auteur died this week at age 76, but not before leaving behind one of the most fascinating catalogues of the rock era. An American and child actor on Broadway who found his success in England as one third of The Walker Brothers, Scott could have been content reliving his glory days of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine
In Memoriam: Scott Walker (1943-2019) - Back Tracks: Part I (1967-1974)
"Imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen," The Guardian once wrote of the amazing journey of Scott Walker. The pop idol turned crooner turned shocking avant-garde auteur died this week at age 76, but not before leaving behind one of the most fascinating catalogues of the rock era. An American and child actor on Broadway who found his success in England as one third of The Walker Brothers, Scott could have been content reliving his glory days of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine
Tell Everyone: Ronnie Lane Rarities and Fan Favorites Collected on "Just For A Moment: Music, 1973-1997," Due in May
Universal Music Catalogue has announced the May 17 release of a much welcomed Ronnie Lane box set that's chock full of rarities and fan favorites from across his solo career. Entitled Just For a Moment: Music, 1973-1997, the 6-CD box set boasts 118 tracks that span three decades. Ronnie Lane was always something of a maverick, a creative tour de force who was wager to blaze his own path and break away from the pressures of the industry. He first garnered acclaim as the bassist for The Small
Right from the Start, I Gave You My Heart: Edsel Collects Kiki Dee's Complete Rocket Years
When Kiki Dee was signed in 1973 to Elton John's Rocket Records label, the 26-year old was already a veteran of the music business as an in-demand background singer and a solo artist for Fontana and Motown. The former Pauline Matthews of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England had proven herself a versatile vocalist at both of those labels, but at Rocket would finally take flight as a top-tier blue-eyed soul singer with so much more to offer than just the duet part in "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." The
You Made Me Love You: Judy Garland's "Lost Tracks 2" Collects 50 Rarities on 2 CDs
June 22, 2019 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of Judy Garland. Though Garland was only on this earth for 47 short years, she packed that time with incendiary performances on stage, screen, radio, television, and records. That still-singular body of work has been exceedingly well-documented in the years since her death, but remarkably, there's still more to be discovered. JSP Records has just followed up its acclaimed 2010 collection Lost Tracks 1929-1959 with a second
Babe, It Ain't No Lie: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Celebrates Iconic Women in Folk With New Vinyl Reissues
The archivists and musical archaeologists at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings have been mining their mammoth catalogue of folk, world music, blues, jazz, frog sounds, educational recordings, early electronica, historical documentary, and so on to create new vinyl reissues of some of their shining gems. This week, in celebration of the start of Women's History Month, the label has put the spotlight on three releases by Folkways icons. There's legendary guitar picker Elizabeth Cotten, whose
Release Round-Up: Week of February 22
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! We kick off with not one, but two, releases from The Zombies! The Zombies, The Complete Studio Recordings (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are being celebrated this week with two comprehensive vinyl box sets - one for the U.S., and one for the U.K. market. The 5-LP, 61-track U.S. version, from Varese Vintage, includes the band's two American albums in mono - She's Not
Short Takes, Stage and Screen Edition: Stage Door Reissues "On the Town," Kritzerland and Quartet Celebrate Jerome Moross
Stage Door Records is pairing two rare London studio cast recordings on one CD with the February 22 release of On the Town/Broadway Melody. This stereo release celebrates the classic sound of the Hollywood musical. The Music for Pleasure label's 1959 recording of On the Town wasn't based on the original Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green stage musical but rather its MGM movie adaptation in which selections from the original score were supplemented by new (and less complex) tunes from
"Harmony in My Head: UK Power Pop and New Wave, 1977-81" Collects Costello, Squeeze, Nick Lowe, Searchers, More
In recent years, Cherry Red Records has made waves with their box set celebrations of music eras gone by. From late-'70s Scottish independent releases and '60s Baroque pop, to '80s shoegaze and even the avant-garde sound explorations of Edgard Varese and Karlheinz Stockhausen, the label has a reputation for their meticulous deep-dives into music subcultures. In November, Cherry Red put the spotlight on the late-'70s U.K. pop-rock scene with Harmony In My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, 'Love Has Many Faces' [8-LP Box Set]
It's coming on Christmas... and just in time for the holidays, Rhino has treated Joni Mitchell fans with a new, 8-LP box set, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced. Previously released in a 4-CD configuration in 2014, this Joni Mitchell-curated collection finds the celebrated songwriter, singer, and visual artist exploring the many contexts and definitions of love. The result is a 53-song, four-act suite that craftily presents some of Joni's best work in a compelling
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Eagles, "Legacy"
Just Find a Place to Make Your Stand On the list of the United States' five best-selling albums of all time, one name stands tall - the only artist to lay claim to two of those five titles. That artist is, of course, a band: Eagles. 1976's Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) sits atop the list at 38 million copies sold; Hotel California is third with 26 million. The ten tracks on the former are all modern-day standards, each and every one of them still a radio staple. Though the original
Review: The Beatles, "The Beatles (The White Album): Anniversary Edition"
You Say You Want a Revolution Following the enormous, worldwide success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles wouldn't have been faulted had they re-entered Abbey Road Studios and created another album of robustly melodic, lavishly orchestrated songs of whimsy and wonder. But Messrs. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr weren't interested in repeating themselves. When The Beatles arrived on November 22, 1968, roughly one and one-half years after Pepper, one didn't even
Review: "Stax '68: A Memphis Story"
Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," the first Stax single of 1968, should have been a new beginning for the artist and label. Instead, the posthumous release ushered in a tumultuous year for the Memphis institution. The death of Redding and members of The Bar-Kays on December 10, 1967 was a tremendous loss for Stax and popular culture, but no one could have predicted the upheaval that would affect Stax and the city of Memphis in the following twelve months. That time has just
Contante & Sonante Celebrates Late Warren Wiebe with Rare Demos From Burt Bacharach, David Foster, More
Talk about a well-kept secret... Throughout his too-short life, vocalist Warren Wiebe (1953-1998) never became a household name. Yet he was highly successful. As a background singer, he graced recordings by Johnny Mathis, Paul Anka, Taylor Dayne, and Air Supply. A true songwriter's singer - able to convey the heart and soul of a song without resorting to self-indulgence - he earned the respect and admiration of a "Who's Who" of songwriters who enlisted him to introduce their songs on
Review: Ben Folds, "Brick: The Songs of Ben Folds 1994-2012"
Upon its release in August 1995, the eponymous debut of Ben Folds' quirkily-named trio sounded like nothing else you might have found in the racks of your local Tower, HMV, or Sam Goody. Filled with rich melodies, inescapable riffs, the most aggressive piano this side of Jerry Lee Lewis, and a youthful dose of attitude, Ben Folds Five channeled Todd Rundgren, Elton John, and Queen - with a dash of Randy Newman here and George Gershwin there. Now, more than 23 years later, the (sorta) angry
Review: The Band, "Music from Big Pink: 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition"
The house on Parnassus Lane, formerly Stoll Road, in West Saugerties, New York might be one of rock and roll's least likely landmarks, with its unassuming residential façade distinguished only by its pink siding. But the colorful house bore witness to the birth of some of the greatest songs in American pop history when Bob Dylan and his band - soon to be The Band - recorded "The Basement Tapes" there. When Capitol Records subsequently signed Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Rick
Thinkin' of a Master Plan: Eric B. & Rakim Discography Compiled In Vinyl/CD Box Set
UMe is revisiting the catalogue of influential hip-hop act Eric B. and Rakim with the July 13 release of a new box set. The Complete Collection 1987-1992, on 8 LPs and 2 CDs, brings together all four of the duo's classic albums (on the 4th & Broadway, Uni, and MCA labels) on eight vinyl LPs plus two CDs of remixes. Eric B. (Eric Barrier) was the DJ of the duo, and Rakim (William Griffin Jr., later Rakim Allah) the MC. Eric B.'s love of James Brown inspired a reassessment of The Godfather
Review: Bear Family's "Battleground Korea: Songs and Sounds of America's Forgotten War"
If there was any doubt that history could be engaging as well as informative, such doubt would be dispelled by a listen to Bear Family's new release, the 4-CD box set Battleground Korea: Songs and Sounds of America's Forgotten War. Make no mistake, the handsomely slipcased collection is as imposing and heavy as a textbook, as its four discs are housed within a lavish, 160-page hardcover tome. But this immersive journey can't help but thrill in its scope and execution. It follows previous Bear
One Up, One Down: Lost 1963 John Coltrane Album Premieres In June
2018 has already seen the announcement of never-before-heard recordings by the late legends Prince and Bobby Darin. Now, a third artist joins that elite club with Impulse! Records' discovery of a lost 1963 album from The John Coltrane Quartet. Saxophone titan Coltrane was joined by Jimmy Garrison on double bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and McCoy Tyner on piano - the same group behind the monumental A Love Supreme and other Coltrane classics - for a March 6, 1963 session that will see release on
OUT TOMORROW! Second Disc Records, Real Gone Music Continue Johnny Mathis Series with Two New Titles
Johnny Mathis kicked off the 1970s with a series of albums that found the Voice of Romance reinventing the day's chart hits in inimitably lush fashion. Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are continuing the journey through the legendary singer's 1970s catalogue with two remastered Expanded Editions due TOMORROW! First up is an expanded two-for-one compact disc release of the classic studio albums Close to You and Love Story. Johnny teamed with longtime producer Jack Gold and top
Good Times: Real Gone To Reissue Rare Willie Nelson, Statler Brothers In July
We've recently told you about Go Ahead & Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records' CD of unheard Bobby Darin Motown recordings due in July. Now we've gotten word of two more Real Gone July releases, both in the country genre: one for Willie Nelson and one for The Statler Brothers. Country legend Willie Nelson hardly needs an introduction. The 85-year-old is one of the biggest names in country and has been recording for over six decades, including up
Baby, They've Got It! Ace Raids Motown Vaults for "More Motown Girls"
Back in 2013, Ace Records launched its first collection of Motown Girls, spotlighting previously unreleased tracks from the legendary ladies of Motown Records. A second installment arrived in 2015, and now, we're finally the recipient of a third volume in the series. The 24-song anthology Baby I've Got It! More Motown Girls boasts 16 previously unreleased tracks, with the remaining eight drawn from the Motown Unreleased compilations (all of which have been digital-only except for the one
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